On a new day, a large order for pizzas came from the observatory. As the sunburst four by four cornered up the hillside with ease, Janaki looked in amazement at a newly created utopian astro-themed adventure park. The retrofitted clamshell dome had a fountainhead on top with waterfalls flowing over rows of solar panels.
A nine hole miniature golf course filled the front grounds. Each of the fairways were modeled after the planets and star of our solar system. Earth, the third hole featured natural and man-made wonders as obstacles. For Mars, the planet with the lowest surface gravity players shot golf balls from launchers at the fourth hole. Saturn players were surrounded with swirling mist pumped out by fog machines while guiding their ball through a maze of channels by tilting the planet's ring. Dazzling lights flared from the Sun at the center of the course. The bonus Pluto fairway was the smallest with a whole neighborhood of different cups to aim at, and free game winners for a hole in one were announced with a big bang.
Other anchor attractions were an aqua park and a sandy beach fronting a wave pool. The stories-high Falling Star water slide had a near-vertical drop. The Black Hole flume circled riders around the edge of a round bowl before dropping down through the bottom chute. A bumper boat pond was surrounded by a twisting and turning go-kart race track challenge. The planetarium contained an outer space arcade, zip line, laser tag, trampolines, bowling alley, and a double helix-shaped climbing wall called Reach for the Stars. The back landscape of the family fun center had become a campground with cabins resembling Lunar Modules.
Janaki parked her capable 4X that at times seemed to have a personality all its own by the overhauled research vehicles and asked the scientist what happened. Dr. Payne explained that this morning she walked out to discover it all to her surprise. The only explanation was a beautifully intricate design carved across the spacearium entrance of a shooting star with the inscription: "Make a Wish."
